They then realized what they had discovered, they saw the torture chamber holmes used to kill his victims. Holmes was first charged with insurance scams and then later on he was charged for first degree murder of Benjamin Pitezel.
Over time and with his people skills, Holmes cheated his way into owning a street block of Englewood, with the street block under one of his various alias, Holmes went on in building his masterpiece, a hotel for the upcoming World Fair. A hotel that would be his “castle” that where Holmes would conduct his bloody business of seducing his victims, mostly women with blonde hair, and deposing the bodies once the foul deed was done. Holmes did not work alone, no during the construction of his hotel, he was able to gain the loyalty of Benjamin Pitezel, a carpenter by trade that overtime became Holmes’ assistant. At Holmes’ trial, a district attorney was said this of Pitezel, “Pitezel was his tool..., his creature”. A fate that would not protect Pitezel against his master, when Holmes eventually turned on him after the failed attempt of Holmes in trying to build another “castle” in Fort Worth, Texas in 1894.
The question is, why did Holmes pick Chicago of all places? Why not somewhere else? Chicago was a place for H.H. Holmes to commit his crimes because the city had a growing population, it was going to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, and because Chicago was a selfish city. H.H. Holmes chose Chicago to commit his crimes
Abrams was a case under the repressive Espionage and Sedition Acts passed during World War I, the most outrageously unconstitutional violations of our civil liberties since the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts. The 1917-18 laws prohibited anything — including speech — that criticized the government, brought it into disrepute, and supposedly interfered with our war effort. The Supreme Court consistently upheld this legislation.
He attempted to build another ‘castle’ there, but there’s no word on whether or not it was actually built. In July of ‘94, Holmes was arrested for selling mortgaged goods in Missouri, but was bailed out rather promptly. While in jail though, Holmes had made conversation with a man named Mario Hedgepeth. Holmes had been planning on taking a $10,000 dollar insurance policy on his own life, and then faking his death. He offered Hedgepeth a $500 commision in exchange for the name of a lawyer who would help him carry out this plan.
Holmes is found guilty with the murder in the first degree. He has the penalty of dying by hanging. While waiting for death, he says he had committed 27 murders. Henry Webster Mudgett met his demise on May 7,1896. It is unsure how many people Holmes has killed, but it is definite that he had killed 9 people.
Throughout his opinion, Holmes loosely cited the Fourteenth Amendment in his explanation for bringing the men to trial. He uses it to affirm the Supreme Court authority in charging those responsible because it was a violation of federal law. They had to enforce the Court's judgement but failed to protect Johnson from harm. Justice Holmes said, “the sheriff was to be regarded as bailee of the United States…” He failed so, a contempt charge was applicable. He noted the circumstances of Johnson’s case that helped influenced his opinion because he did not have a fair shot.
There was no motive for the police or any officials to question Holmes further succeeding his business. Americas ingenuity was at all time high during the time the Chicago Fair was constructed. With the ability to construct attractions in an area close to water on unleveled ground in an area that was popular for violence was a very risky action. Since the fair was a major success we can infer that American Ingenuity was used for something other than producing industrial machines and products and using their resources to create architecture within America itself. Chicago was not the tier location to construct the World’s fair but in the end it was an intelligent decision for the American
Holmes then goes on to attend medical school at the University of Michigan in 1882 and thus began his life as a con artist (Biography.com Editors, 2017). Holmes exceptional charm was the reason he continuously got away with his fraud. During medical school Holmes reportedly stole dead bodies and used them to fabricate insurance claims, and racked up credit card debit as a traveling book salesmen (Biography.com Editors, 2017). Holmes then uses his charm to secure a job at a drug store in Chicago, later turning the three story building across the street into a hotel. The hotel; now known as the “Murder Castle” was mostly occupied by women for Holmes to pray on, some becoming his wife before they mysteriously go missing (Biography.com Editors, 2017).
Furthermore, Holmes did not keep the bodies of his victims like many other murderers, he found no gratification from it. What Holmes yearned for and felt pleasure from was feeling a sense of possession over his victims as they begged for mercy, and unfortunately once they died that feeling quickly dissipated. As a result, Holmes’s desire for power and control could never be fully satisfied and because of this he feels the need to kill again and again. After reading this passage I felt repulsed at the fact that Holmes murdered solely to gain pleasure from the sense of power and possession he felt. It is disgusting to envision Holmes standing there, with a menacing look on his face, enjoying the control he exerts over his victims as they die, slow, painful deaths.
Likewise, much the same as the World's Fair, the hotel took a while in light of the fact that Holmes needed to change contractors constantly to keep them from getting onto his horrifying
A week later, he was charged with “24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder, as well as two charges related to the possession of serious weapons” (James Holmes- Mass Murderer). Two months later, they wanted to add new charges against him. “In March 2013, Holmes made an offer to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole” (James Holmes- Mass Murderer). This was a good idea on his part, because he would avoid the death penalty. Unfortunately, the case was moved against him because the prosecutors denied his offer.
Holmes is taken to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo for supervision. A month later, Holmes Attorneys defended his client, by saying, "Mr. Holmes suffers from a severe mental illness and was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he committed the acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life and injuries sustained by movie goers on July 20, 2012” (“Colorado Theater”, 2017). Holmes defense to his actions was because he believe the reason he killed everyone is because he was unable to control his actions because of the movie he watched.
“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing.” The infamous H.H. Holmes spoke these spine chilling words. Known as “America’s First Serial Killer”, Holmes lived a secretive and lavish lifestyle. Holmes’s fear of doctors as a young child ripened into a fascination of the human anatomy.
Regret, it helps you but hurts you Have you ever had some sort of regret in your life? Most of us would say yes to this question. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, she talks about regret. Her characters make many choices that they wouldn’t do again if they could go back in time. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she describes the theme of regret by using verbal irony, alliteration, and satire.
